£245,000 scheme to cut cyclist accidents on busy Leeds road

A NEW £245,000 scheme is planned to improve road safety for cyclists and pedestrians on a stretch of a busy Leeds road where dozens of people have been injured in accidents over the last five years.

Leeds City Council chiefs have drawn up proposals for a section of the A65 Kirkstall Road between Woodside View and Weaver Street, which has seen 59 recorded injury accidents between January 2011 and January this year.

A report to the council’s chief highways and transportation officer reveals that 32 of those accidents involved cyclists.

The council is seeking to create a segregated cycle track between the lengths of Woodside View and Greenhow Road and reduce the width of a section of Kirkstall Road to cater for the new cycle facility.

Priority would be given to pedestrians and cyclists at side road junctions and side road ‘speed tables’ would be introduced to reduce vehicle speeds through the junctions.

The report states that Leeds Cycle Forum members have been consulted on the scheme, adding: “The forum members were in favour of the scheme and saw it as a change in a positive direction.

Report author Jack Young wrote: “Although there is a loss of carriageway it is only over short lengths and the proposals will have a considerable benefit to cyclist and pedestrians.”

Leeds City Council’s chief highways and transportation officer has been recommended to approve the scheme, which is estimated will cost £245,000.